Fox of France

After hearing the news that Archduke Karl had sent a military envoy, Napoleon said to Brigadier General Soult who was following him: "General Soult, what do you think the Austrian envoy is here for?"

"Probably to reach a peace agreement." Sirte thought for a while and replied.

"Go on," Napoleon said. The experience of dealing with Sirte these days made him quite satisfied with this new subordinate. He felt that this new subordinate had a solid tactical foundation and an easy-to-use brain, so he also wanted to take this opportunity to test him.

"Your Excellency, we will definitely defeat the Austrians. I believe that Grand Duke Karl must understand this. But he must also understand how precious time is to us nowadays. He must want to use this time to talk to us. bargain."

"So what do you think we should do?" asked Napoleon.

"Your Excellency, it depends on what conditions they propose. Isn't it?" Soult returned.

"Very good." Napoleon nodded and said, "You bring that envoy over and show him the cannons we captured on the way."

In Verdun, when the British and Prussian troops fled into the barracks, they dropped a large number of cannons, especially the British army, which abandoned many large and thick naval guns. Although according to the discipline, when abandoning these cannons, the fire door should be crucified (in this way, the cannons cannot be used without major repairs), but because the number of cannons is too large, the workload is too large, and the working hours It is not long enough, so among the captured artillery, almost half of the cannons have not been crucified.

Because it hasn’t rained these days, plus Napoleon now has a lot more German mercenary labor force, plus he has captured a lot of draft horses (almost all the draft horses of the British artillery were captured, and in about half of the Under the premise that the cannons are no longer usable, these horses even have a surplus) so these cannons barely kept up with the speed of Napoleon's march. However, under the premise of today's ammunition shortage, the existence of these cannons, in a sense, further aggravated the logistical tension.

However, these cannons are very good for scaring people. Anyway, the Austrians certainly don't know that Napoleon has limited ammunition. (Of course, before there was no synthetic ammonia technology, few countries did not lack gunpowder)

Soult went to see Napoleon with the envoy of Archduke Karl.

Although the Austrian envoy had been left to cool for a long time, he didn't show any signs of anxiety at all. After meeting Sirte, he still seemed polite and calm. This made Sirte have a good impression of him.

Soult told him: "His Excellency General Bonaparte is not here. But I have been ordered to take you to see him. Sorry, we don't have a suitable carriage here. You can only ride with us to the general's side."

"That's not a problem. When can we leave?" the young Austrian envoy asked.

"Right now, sir, you know, we don't have any extra time to waste." Soult replied.

The envoy got on the horse with Soult, and under the escort of a troop of cavalry, they left the small village occupied by the French army and marched along the road to another village under the control of the French army.

This section of the road is not easy to walk, because the French army is everywhere on the road, and the road is full of people, horses and vehicles. At a crossing, they were stopped by a team of artillery that was passing the crossing. The artillery team was passing the intersection, and the team dragging the heavy artillery, because of the huge inertia of the artillery, would not stop easily, or even slow down easily. Otherwise, it will easily lead to various troubles or even accidents.

In particular, this artillery team is equipped with captured British naval 24-pound guns. Basically, the army would not be equipped with such heavy artillery, and even if it was equipped, it was generally only used as a fortress artillery. The cannons used by the Army in field battles generally did not exceed 8 pounds in this era, and they were all relatively lighter bronze cannons. But these cannons are all heavy iron cannons. Each cannon is pulled by sixteen horses. The thick and long blue-black barrels are pointing obliquely at the sky. There are countless cannon carriages one by one. There are countless.

Soult took the horse and waited for the artillery to pass with the cavalry, the Austrian envoy watched the artillery, and Soult observed the performance of the envoy. Unfortunately, he didn't see much change on the messenger's face.

Along the way, Soult was carefully observing the envoy. Judging from his movements of controlling the horse and his slender and white hands, this man should not have much experience in the army. Perhaps because of this, he I don't understand what it means to be able to drag so many heavy cannons here in such a time.

The two waited on horseback for a long time before the artillery team slowly crossed the intersection. Soult took the emissary and walked a little further, and then came to another village.

There is a fairly good manor in this village, probably owned by a nobleman. But now it has been requisitioned by the French army and has become Napoleon's temporary headquarters.

Napoleon received the young envoy in the small drawing room of the manor. The emissary introduced himself to Napoleon. His name was Clemens Wenzel von Metternich.

Napoleon didn't know that the young man standing in front of him would have historically become the prime minister of Austria, the creator of the Metternich system that had influenced Europe for decades, and a bigwig in women's clothing.

Napoleon asked Metternich to sit down, and then asked slowly: "I heard that you are the emissary of Grand Duke Karl. Our two countries are now at war. I want to know why Grand Duke Karl sent you here at this time. What is it?"

"Of course it is for the peace of Europe." Metternich returned.

"Peace in Europe? Isn't peace in Europe your country?" Napoleon said with a mocking tone, "We have reached an agreement with your country on peace last time, but not long ago it was your country that took the lead in tearing up the peace agreement, launched a war. Now, your country is calling for peace again?"

Facing Napoleon's accusations, Metternich was not flustered. He smiled and said: "General Bonaparte, I don't think the point is about whose responsibility the peace was broken last time. Because of this, Each country will have a different view from its own standpoint. If we need to discuss this issue, we can discuss it until the end of the world. But this debate has no real meaning for today's issues, you said Is it right?"

"Okay then." Napoleon said, "I don't want to waste time on such boring things. First of all, I want to know that you seem to be the emissary of Archduke Karl. Do you think that your identity can guarantee the relationship between us? In the negotiations, can the issue of peace between nations be discussed?"

Metternich nodded with a smile and said: "His Majesty the Emperor of our country has always been a benevolent king who loves peace, so when the war just broke out, he considered that the dispute between us and France is still It will be resolved peacefully through negotiations..."

"It's just that the place where the emperor of your country wants to negotiate is in Paris, right?" Napoleon couldn't help but sarcastically.

"It is not important, Your Excellency General," said Metternich. "For this reason, at the beginning of the war, His Majesty the Emperor gave His Royal Highness the authorization to negotiate peace with France. I have brought here my Emperor Your Majesty's power of attorney, which can prove my negotiating qualifications."

As he spoke, Metternich picked up the briefcase next to him. The briefcase had already been checked by Napoleon's guards in case he might have carried various gadgets in it to act as an assassin. Although such things are rare, Joseph has always been worried, so the guards around Napoleon have undergone special training organized by Joseph.

Metternich opened his briefcase, took out a document and handed it to Napoleon. Napoleon glanced at it, and it was indeed a legal and valid power of attorney. It seems that before launching the war, the Austrian emperor had really planned to seek peace first if the situation was not right. Unlike the Russians, who had negotiated the conditions earlier, they had to wait for nearly a month before they could get an official envoy who could sign a peace agreement.

"Very good." Napoleon nodded and said, "Although I have not received full authorization. But now I am one of the rulers of the French Republic. I think that I can represent France to decide war and peace with your country. question. Now, Mr. Metternich, under what conditions does your country wish to achieve peace?"

"We hope to return to the state before the peace was not broken. And this peace should also include peace between our country and the Republic of Northern Italy." Metternich said.

Napoleon laughed: "Does your country take the initiative to tear up the peace agreement, and then hope to restore peace without paying any price?"

"We can help you," said Metternich.

"Well, then how can your country help us?" asked Napoleon.

"We can give up Luxembourg and save the most precious time for you to go east, General," Metternich said.

"We can fight it ourselves." Murat said beside Napoleon.

"But it will take time." Metternich responded, "General, although I have no experience in serving in the army, when I came here, His Excellency the Grand Duke told me that your army is indeed capable of taking Luxembourg, but, Your Excellency the Grand Duke feels that he can resist for at least two months. After the brilliant victory of Your Excellency General in Verdun, both Hanover and Prussia have become very vulnerable at this time, but if the general cannot Take advantage of this weakness, and the value of your victory at Verdun will also decrease. Your Excellency, every second of time is very precious now. If our country can help the general save such precious time, then the general Why not be more lenient and merciful to our country?"